PREP EXTRA: A weekly look at the high school sports scene in the Southland

Fletcher Leans In as Latest Sprint King

Miguel Fletcher of Mission Hills Alemany High drew first blood in a battle of sprint kingpins.

Fletcher clocked a wind-aided 10.44 seconds in the 100 meters to defeat Long Beach Poly's Darrell Rideaux (10.46) and Notre Dame's Justin Fargas (10.60) in the Northridge-Alemany Relays at Cal State Northridge last Saturday in a race that featured the top three finishers from last year's state championships.

Fletcher and Rideaux had finished second and third behind Fargas in the state final in Sacramento in June, but they beat him out of the starting blocks at Northridge and Fargas never recovered.

Rideaux, a junior, led the race for the first 95 meters before Fletcher nipped him at the finish with a well-timed lean.

Fletcher, who will attend USC next fall on a football scholarship, later won the 200 in a wind-aided 21.32.

Sultan McCullough of Pasadena Muir won the 400 in 47.85.

McCullough, favored to win the boys' 100- and 200-meter dashes in the 1997 state championships before aggravating a hamstring injury, is expected to make his season debut in the 100 in the Pasadena Games at Occidental College on March 28.